Dear David, congratulations & many thanks for the successful upgrade of this website !!! Keep up the good work !!! Cheers Franz

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Franz
Thanks for the compliments. We've only just started & got quite a way to go with lots of tweaking, fine tuning & new developments planned for the main GT Rider website.

The forum / message board should stay "basically the same" but with more options & still user friendly.

The problem for me is that the board & the website seem to "have taken off" a bit, & are consuming considerable time with not enough return. So that situation needs to be remedied a little.

The focus of the GT Rider website will be overseas & the message board will be "here."

My only bitches with the message board are
1. First timers who can't be bothered to do research & expect everyone to answer all their queries to help them settle in. Then, more often than not they don't put anything back after they've gotten the info they needed; you guys don't endear yourself to me at all!
2. Computer riders who comment on everything that the riders are doing, because they could do it better but actually never do. The only real credibility you get on this board is with Road & Trip Reports.
3. Guys who think the locals don’t know as much or are as good as us farang. I like living in Thailand (even after 25+ years) & respect the locals, especially the fact they will always have a go, even if they know they probably won’t get it right. At least they had a go!

The board as a valuable source of info only works if you put something back in, not just take. Don't bleed it dry all the time for all you can get & not contribute. It takes time to post questions & it takes even more time to answer. Pop up with a new question every few months & in the meantime remain silent & non-contributing, & you will get a “fair go” earbashing.

Otherwise many thanks to all you riders out there who have taken the time to contribute. Anything is (usually) better than nothing.

If you’re not having a good day, don’t take it out on the message board - get out there, ride & enjoy life.

David, I agree fully, myself I will help to contribute in more other ways such as the new stickers. As some of us are in Thailand a long time like myself, we not only respect but have to respect anything locals do, we are still guests here; I've already told some of the permanent critics of Thailand to pack up and leave for good because if not then there must be something here that's better than home....if so then it's better to shut up. Doesn't mean that you can't criticise but think twice before you do and always provide some proposals for solutions. Then there are people like me who work in an international or their own small company and have a lot of work to do and daily pressure; we don't need "neggies" anyway. In our sparce sparetime we mostly have the job to do that's left unattended during the working time: homework. When we then finally find the time for a trip we for sure will contribute soemthing positive & useful on this board.
I just wonder what all the guys in Pattaya are doing other than frequently visiting the Go-Go & Beer bars because since you gave us "easterners" the possibility to post, nobody of these plenty guys have even posted one report; what are they doing the whole day, lot of them retirees with plenty of time and doing plenty of trips but no time to post some useful information other than questions or offers for sale of their private stuff...
Sorry but I have to mention this once.......(Jerry, when you read this its not you I mean, with your frequent posts !)
So come on you guys who just ask questions and do some useful reports, being it trips, hotels/restaurants on the way, shops for gear, motorcycles and experiences during your travels with the locals. Cheers, Franz

CHANGES - first they confuse you, then you start to understand them, then you start to apreciate them, and then you ask: What took so long?!

There's one thing I've been wanting to say for a long time:
GT-RIDER IS MY FAVORITE WEBSITE!!!
Seriously. I've been posting in forums on other sites and either I got bored or flamed or the level of the conversations simply sucked. Aggression, insults, older members ganging up on newer ones and so on. None of that here! Posts are always polite, informative, well written - it's a joy to be among gentlemen! That said, where are the Ladies? Maybe they'll come.
Again, a big compliment to the makers of the site and users of this forum! Keep it nice, keep it clean, and we'll all have a good time together.
One more thing: there's one person who does a hell of a lot of work for all of us users, without him there would be no gt-rider. So if there's a way to support him, let's do it! Morally or financially.
I've been parting out BMW K bikes in the States years ago as a side business, and I used the Internet BMW Riders forum. To show my apreciation I always kicked 5% of my sale back to them; it's not much, but if everybody would do that, it'd add up. Just an idea...

Yes i agree and i have suggested this to David also. We need to give something back to him in return for his Long Devotion to serving the Biking Community at his own expense. Commission for sales on the site seems a Logical call. Great Site with Great Members!!!

Klaus & Ian, I agree, its up to us to do something. First I'll get David 1.000 new GT-rider stickers, I'll pay both the printing plates and the stickers, David, please don't give them for free but charge us members for them. Sure, we could do something as a sponsoring, for example the maps and Polo shirts. Cheers, Franz

Hi Pico, many thanks, I will pay the first 500+500 (6000,- + 5250,-) stickers and die-cut plates plus artwork charges (3000,- + 3000,- = only one time charges), in the future David may order more stickers, and that's where every help will be needed.
David, once I paid and received the labels, I will take 20+20 for myself & Jerry and forward you the rest (480+480 pcs) per mail, also the address & contact of the manufactorer. For future orders you can do it by yourself, die-cut & artwork charges are only charged once to me and they keep this on file & stock. Cheers, Franz

Hi Pico, many thanks, I will pay the first 500+500 (6000,- + 5250,-) stickers and die-cut plates plus artwork charges (3000,- + 3000,- = only one time charges), in the future David may order more stickers, and that's where every help will be needed.
David, once I paid and received the labels, I will take 20+20 for myself & Jerry and forward you the rest (480+480 pcs) per mail, also the address & contact of the manufactorer. For future orders you can do it by yourself, die-cut & artwork charges are only charged once to me and they keep this on file & stock. Cheers, Franz

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Franz
Thanks a million for your support. In Chiang Khong at the moment & should be "home" tomorrow. Will be in touch Thurs, most likely.

The boys are correct David, you could get a lot out of marketting, of course it would take time. Tee shirts, stickers, beer stubby holders, key rings etc would compliment your excellent maps and books.
Great upgrade on your web site.
See you next year.

Pico, please do a speed test on your ADSL; I think that your speed for foreign websites may be too slow. I'm using both ADSL (private) and Frame-relay (office) and the startpage always comes up immediately. Contact TOT if your speed's too slow: www.speedtest.com or key in ADSL Speedtest at Google's and several choices will come up.
Cheers, Franz

David, stickers (480 pcs. small size, 480 pcs. big size) have been EMS mailed to you today morning, next time you need some, tell me or order directly as I have included copies of invoices. Die-cut and design charges are paid and will not be charged for further orders. Cheers, Franz

Franz - Eastern Seaboard wrote: David, stickers (480 pcs. small size, 480 pcs. big size) have been EMS mailed to you today morning, next time you need some, tell me or order directly as I have included copies of invoices. Die-cut and design charges are paid and will not be charged for further orders. Cheers, Franz

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Franz
Thanks for your help. I look forward to seeing the new stickers.

We could easliy add a special "Supporters Group" to the Forum, and those who make a $20? annual? contribution become a member of it, and can advertise all they want. This should at least cover the site hosting costs, which will increase steadily as the site grows and traffic grows.

The next major step to finish off the site evolution / metamorphosis is to add a proper Image Gallery system. This this will consume significant amounts of disk space and increase bandwidth sharply, pushing up hosting costs. Maybe we could also give "Supporters Group" members permission to add albums in Image Gallerys???